Dishing Up Minnesota Cookbook Review

Title:

Dishing Up Minnesota

Author:

Teresa Marrone

Published:

2016, Storey Publishing

No. of Pages:

286

Cover Price:

$19.95 Paperback, $15.95 Kindle

Minnesota isn’t exactly known for its great food. Granted there are several noteworthy restaurants that have enjoyed critical acclaim, but for the most part, Minnesotans are known for their ubiquitous “hot dish,” which is generally a casserole dish made with canned soup. The most popular hot dish, “Tater Tot Hot Dish” is ground beef, vegetables, and sometimes cheese mixed and topped with tater tots and baked. It should come with that scary music from Jaws, because that’s how one feels when it is served. While Dishing Up Minnesota does have one recipe for this hot dish, it contains dozens of mouthwatering recipes using indigenous ingredients such as walleye, wild rice, and wild mushrooms. Babe the Blue Ox, from Paul Bunyan lore has his own pancake recipe made with blue cornmeal. After reading and cooking from this excellent cookbook, most cooks will change their opinion of the foods eaten by Minnesotans.

What a variety this book contains! There is even an exotic tagine included. The much joked about Lutefisk is there, (although it’s doubtful that will be the most popular recipe in the book), as well as other traditional Scandinavian dishes. There are also some modern and innovative dishes that no one would expect from Minnesota. The book contains beautiful pictures, vignettes of life in Minnesota, information on food festivals and celebrations, and enough information on the state that even those who have spent time there will want to visit it anew and those who haven’t may just want to visit.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying an advanced review copy of this cookbook.